26th May 2025

Last night we went out once again in search of wildlife. We were lucky in that we saw a Moose, but not so lucky because he was well hidden in the brush so difficult to photograph.

This morning we had another late start, 9.05 a.m. I’m beginning to think we are getting lazy or is it all the early starts and hiking catching up with us oldies? 😔

Today has been another fabulous hot, sunny day. The temperature started at 54ºF (12ºC) and is currently 70ºF (21ºC). 🌞

We did the narrated scenic boat tour around Colter Bay, part of Jackson Lake and Mrs. B. did not embarrass herself thank goodness. 🥴👏

There were lots of people kayaking and canoeing on the lake too. A lovely day for it.

The Colter Bay boat area – waiting to board!

We had Captain Dave as our ‘driver’ and Brooke from Raleigh, North Carolina as First Mate. She was excellent and her knowledge first class and very informative. We learnt a lot today. Our boat today was called Teewinot.

We were lucky that the water was very calm, as during high winds and various other activities, waves have been known to reach up to 6 ft high (1.83m).

The lake is 437 feet deep and is the second-largest in Wyoming with Yellowstone Lake being the largest. As there are only about 60 frost-free days in the Tetons it means the lake freezes over in the winter and the ice can be 5 feet thick. When this happens wild animals and people often walk across the lake to Elk Island. Elk give birth on the island too. Everything is glacier created and that means the mountains are always on the move. Grand Teton is the tallest mountain in the National Park.

Moose are aquatic animals and have double jointed knees so can swim doing a type of breast-stroke up to six miles per hour. Who knew, not us that’s for sure! 😂

Aspen trees grow in groves and are all around the lake. The individual groves are all  connected to one mother tree by their root system.

The first mountain to be named in the Tetons was Teewinot (apparently from an Indian word meaning Pinnacles, but when this was queried they said they didn’t know the word!) It stands today at 13,775 feet (4199m) and it is still growing.

The Tetons are the youngest mountain range in the USA at 10 million years old and are continually on the move. They are measured every two years.

In 1950 a plane crashed into Skillet Glacier killing all 22 people on board. The plane was never recovered and remains there to this day. A priest went up the mountain to carry out a memorial service. Some say on a sunny day you can see the remains of the plane glinting in the sunshine.

In the past two years, due to contact with humans, lots of bears have had to be relocated across the lake to wooded areas. They are not content to stay there however, and can often be seen swimming in the water and often swim alongside boats. Sadly, we didn’t see any today.

There are an estimated 200 bears, both black bears and grizzly bears, living in Grand Teton National Park. Within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, which includes Grand Teton, there are roughly 700 grizzly bears. The 200 bears in Teton National Park are tagged so they can be monitored. 

After our boat trip we did a short hike to Heron Pond and were lucky to encounter a large Moose on the trail. At one point he looked very hard at Si so we moved away quickly. 😱 Perhaps he thought he would be good for his entree! 🤣

For lunch we went back to the Pioneer Grill where I had my first Bison Burger of the trip and Si a Cowboy Burger consisting of 1/3 lb Beef Patty, Honey-Bourbon BBQ Sauce, Bacon, Crispy Onions, Lettuce, Tomato, Onion, and Cheddar Cheese. He said is was fantastic.

We were served by a lovely young lady called Emma Rose from Massachusetts. She has been studying to be a nurse and has just graduated. Her wish is to become a Theatre Nurse and we wish her well for the future.

Just an update from our trip to Yellowstone last Saturday. You may remember we saw a beautiful little bird that we didn’t know the name of. Well, thanks to a friend and follower of our blog who has the Merlin Bird ID app, he was able to tell us that it is called a Chipping Sparrow. Thanks Jim.

The app was also recommended to me by my friend Ann and I now have it downloaded to my phone. It’s a great app and so far today I’ve been able to identify five birds! I can see a new hobby coming on! I expect I’m late to the party and lots of you already know about it. 🤷‍♀️

Our time in the Tetons is coming to a close very rapidly, too rapidly in fact. We leave on Thursday. 😔

We haven’t decided yet what to do tomorrow so it will be a surprise for all of us! 😳

As always, thanks for reading. See you tomorrow for more adventures!